The Bet
by 221bLondon
Summary: "What about making people fall in love with you, are you terrific at that as well?" "You bet. Just name someone and she'll be in love with me in a matter of mere seconds." "Try Martin." (Douglas/Martin)
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hi chaps! I'm fairly new to this little fandot, because I didn't know about Cabin Pressure until a friend recommended it to me a few months ago. And now I can't seem to get enough of it, so I attempted to write this little story. There are going to be three more chapters after this prologue, and as I'm nearly finished writing, the first "real" chapter will be up here soon.  
**

 **Let me know what you think!**

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After a long day of flying some businessmen from Hong Kong to London and then home to Fitton, Douglas and Carolyn sat in the Flap and Throttle having a drink (whiskey for Carolyn, and apple juice for Douglas). Carolyn was still waiting for Arthur to finish hoovering GERTI, and so she had decided to join Douglas for a round at the pub at Fitton Airfield before finally getting home. He had just finished telling her a story about how he had once saved two mountain gorillas from certain death during a trip to Uganda.

"Is there anything you can't do?" asked Carolyn, rolling her eyes.

"Of course not. I am _terrific_." Douglas poured himself another drink and smiled.

"Yes, yes, of course you are."

"Ask anyone, they'll assure you that I am."

"Ah, yes, who hasn't heard of the terrific Douglas Richardson?" Carolyn asked ironically, before she added in a casual tone, "What about making people fall in love with you, are you _terrific_ at that as well?"

"You bet. Just name someone and she'll be in love with me in a matter of mere seconds."

"Try Martin."

"What?" Douglas looked completely perplexed.

"Do I need to spell it out for you? M-A-R-"

"Yes, alright, I heard you. But why on earth would you choose Martin, of all people?"

"Because I bet he won't fall for you big idiot. He's _faaar_ too clever for that."

"Oh no, of course he will, if I want him to. But why would I want my _captain_ to fall in love with me? What are you up to?" Douglas studied Carolyn's face, who tried to look as innocent as possible.

"Nothing, I just want to prove that you're not quite as irresistible as you seem to think." He still didn't seem convinced. "Alright, now let's say that if you win, I'll wash your car."

"You're on."

As they shook hands, Carolyn added, "But you do realize that you'll be the one having to wash my car if I win."

"Not going to happen, Carolyn. I'll see you tomorrow." And with that, Douglas got up and left the bar.


	2. The Date

"No, Arthur. We're not playing yellow car right now," Martin objected.

"Ohh, but why not skip? It would be fun!"

"Because we're on _an aeroplane_. There aren't usually many yellow cars in the sky, are there?"

Arthur had to think about this for a moment, before he answered sadly, "Yeah, I think you're probably right, skip."

"Probably?" mumbled Douglas, but then he turned around to Arthur. "Tell you what, why don't we play The Traveling Lemon later on? There's still almost two hours to pass 'til we arrive at Fitton."

Arthur's face lit up in an instant. "Brilliant!" he exclaimed.

"Mhm, yes, I thought so. Now why don't you go and prepare us something to eat?"

"Righto," Arthur answered and left for the galley.

Finally, Martin and Douglas were alone in the flight deck, and they sat in comfortable silence. Douglas looked over to Martin, who didn't seem to notice. Two whole days had gone by without Douglas having made any progress on the bet with Carolyn whatsoever. Well, he had tried, but getting to spend some alone time with Martin had proven more difficult than Douglas had expected. When they had flown a young couple to Rome for their honeymoon, Douglas had asked Martin out for dinner, who of course hadn't thought about it as a date, and had invited Arthur to join them. _Arthur_. Instead of going to that fantastic restaurant on top of the Spanish Steps Douglas had had in mind, they ended up in a cheap bistro in some dark alley. So much for their romantic evening.

Since the bet, Douglas had been a bit nicer to Martin than usual (not too much though, as if not to raise any suspicions - and maybe also partly because Martin was just too good at getting teased to stop doing so completely), and he had even let him win at some of the games they were playing. And he had tried to get Martin to talk about personal stuff, which had failed, firstly because Douglas didn't like to share any of his own personal life with Martin, and secondly because Martin suspected some sort of a trap and didn't want to offer his first officer any more teasing material.

No, what Douglas needed was an actual date with Martin. It was time for another attempt.

"So, _captain_ , any plans for tomorrow?" he asked. After that flight from Rome back to England, the two pilots had four days off because there weren't any bookings for MJN Air. Carolyn had wanted them to stay home in Fitton though, in case any last minute bookings came in.

"Yeah, I got a moving job, actually," answered Martin, his voice sounding both proud and already tired from the work ahead. "The next two days I'll be busy driving back and forth between Fitton and Chippenham."

"Ah," Douglas said. "And what about Wednesday then?"

"I'll… probably just stay at home, why?"

"Well, I was thinking since you are always going on and on about Duxford Air Museum, maybe it's time that I finally get to visit it myself. I was wondering if you cared to join me."

Martin looked a bit startled, but happy nonetheless. "Y-y-ye-yes, um, I mean, that would be great!"

"Good," Douglas said, satisfied. "I'll pick you up at, let's say, ten."

* * *

Douglas stood in front of his captain and looked at him. He had stopped listening to Martin's never ending explanations of the various details and advantages of the exhibited planes at the museum a while ago, and instead took in the sight of the younger man, almost as if he saw him for the first time. The red hair, the freckles, the high cheekbones, the green-blueish eyes… _Stop it_ , he told himself. _You're getting ridiculous._ But nevertheless, he couldn't help but admit that Martin looked … _good_ today, very good in fact. And he was obviously very pleased with himself about knowing that much about the exhibition, and happy that there was someone whom he could share this knowledge with. Douglas smiled, because he, too, was happy.

Later Martin sat at the table in Douglas's kitchen, who was standing in front of the oven to finish up dinner. He had invited Martin to come to his house, because he knew that his captain would never allow Douglas to pay for an expensive meal at a restaurant, and neither could Martin afford it himself. So a home-cooked meal it was.

"Buon appetito!" Douglas put a plate with lasagne in front of Martin. He remembered Martin's longing looks towards his own lasagne at the bistro in Rome, because all Martin could afford was a more than ordinary sandwich. Martin's happy expression as he tasted the food was enough to reward Douglas for the effort of preparing the meal.

After a few moments of comfortable silence, Martin hesitantly asked, "So… how are you doing, Douglas? Since the divorce, I mean." Since Douglas didn't answer, Martin tried to backpedal. "I-I mean, you don't have to talk about it, of course, not to me anyway, I was just-"

"No, Martin, it's fine," Douglas interrupted. "I was just thinking about how to answer your question. I'm doing … alright, I'd say. Quite alright."

"Oh, okay." Martin relaxed again, now that he knew he hadn't offended Douglas. "I'm sure there'll be other women."

"Or men," Douglas said. Martin, who had just taken a sip from his wine, choked and started coughing. His face, even his ears turned completely red, and he avoided Douglas's eye. Douglas realized that he had probably gone a bit too far with his comment, and tried to ease the atmosphere with some jokes. Nevertheless, Martin stayed very reserved the rest of the evening and finished his meal quickly.

When Douglas guided him towards the door, Martin turned around to his first officer and asked, "What exactly was today all about, Douglas?"

Douglas looked back into Martin's eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean ... you joining me for a visit to Duxford Air Museum - asking me to go there with you, in fact - and now dinner… If I didn't knew better I would almost call it a date."

"Almost?" asked Douglas, and Martin's face turned completely red yet again.

"D-d-do you mean this - was - in fact - a … _date_?" Martin asked.

"It was whatever you want it to be, Martin. I don't want to push you into anything you don't feel comfortable with. I simply wanted to spend some time with you, that's all."

"I-is it?" asked Martin, more to himself than to Douglas, it seemed. "Well, thank you, I suppose. It was quite a nice day, wasn't it?" Martin hesitantly smiled at Douglas.

Douglas smiled back at him. "Yes, really, quite a nice day," he said, and he meant it.


	3. The Kiss

**A/N: Thank you for following, somethingpink! Here comes the third chapter. Enjoy!**

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The next night, Douglas was just in the middle of falling asleep when his phone started ringing. With a sigh Douglas opened his eyes and looked at the screen. Martin.

Douglas picked up the phone. "Yes, hello Martin?"

"Hi, is this Douglas?" a voice asked which definitely wasn't Martin's but sounded familiar nevertheless.

"Yes," answered Douglas, "who do I have the pleasure of talking to at such a perfectly normal time for a phone call?"

"Yeah, sorry, this is Carl." Of course. "Could you come and pick up Martin?"

The noisy chatter in the background made it difficult for Douglas to understand what Carl said. "Martin? Why?"

"He's dead drunk, won't even tell me his address, otherwise I simply would have called a cab. We're at The Witch's Inn."

"Alright, I'll be there in ten minutes," answered Douglas and hung up the phone.

Reluctantly he got out of his bed, put on some clothes and stepped out into the drizzling rain. He got in his car and drove over to the pub. When he got there, he spotted Martin immediately and walked towards him. He sat in a corner next to Carl and some other men that Douglas didn't know. As soon as Martin saw Douglas, he tried to get up and walk towards him, but stumbled and surely would have fallen to the ground if Douglas hadn't caught him at the last second.

"Ah, Douglas," Martin slurred and poked his finger in Douglas's arm, "I'm glad to see _you_ here."

"Oh hell Martin, you're supposed to fly tomorrow!" Douglas turned to Carl. "How much did he have?"

"I don't know, he already was pretty drunk when we came here," answered Carl. "Started to talk to me about aviation and … some other stuff." Douglas wondered what else drunk Martin had blabbed about - _maybe about his charming first officer_ , Douglas hoped and feared at the same time.

"We better head off then, thanks for calling," Douglas said, and guided Martin to the door. He helped him into the front passenger seat of his car (although Martin of course had to protest, and insisted that he was well able to get into that bloody car by himself), and then sat down behind the steering wheel. He turned to look at Martin.

"Now, Martin, please tell me where you live so I can get you home."

Martin looked away. "No, you wouldn't want to go there, it's -" he hiccuped, "bloody awful."

"Oh come on Martin, I don't want to sit in this car park all night."

"Fine," Martin gave in. "Just drive towards the town centre and turn left at the next traffic light."

When they reached the house, Douglas inwardly agreed with Martin. The place _was_ bloody awful.

"Okay, th-th-thanks for driving me," Martin said, and made an effort to open the door.

"What, do you think I'll just leave you here in the rain? You can barely even walk." Douglas hurried around to the other side of the car to support Martin on his way to the front door of the house.

Douglas opened the door with Martin's keys and found the house completely in dark.

"Semester break," mumbled Martin, while Douglas turned on the light.

The inside of the place was even messier than the outside. Douglas had to bite his lip to not comment on it. Instead, he asked Martin where his room was. "Didn't you say it was in the attic?"

Martin nodded, and together they approached the narrow staircase.

Even when seen only from the doorstep, Martin's room looked much worse than Douglas had expected. On one wall, there was a simple wooden bed, with a shelf next to it on which Martin kept his clothes. On the wall opposite the bed there was the old flight simulator Martin had spoken about, beside it a few piles of folders and the few books Martin possessed. That was it.

"Go ahead, just make fun of me," said Martin, who had studied Douglas's face while he had looked around the tiny room.

Douglas looked at Martin, who still clung to his arm for balance. Only now did he notice the close proximity to him, the warmth of his body.

"I'm not making fun of it," Douglas said earnestly, as his and Martin's eyes locked. Martin took a deep breath, and then in one quick move crashed his lips on Douglas's.

When Martin pulled his lips back, Douglas was too baffled to say anything, his usually sharp brain completely blank.

"Martin, I…"

Martin took a step backwards and looked at Douglas with big eyes that were full of panic. "Oh God, Douglas, I - I'm sorry, I - I don't know what I was thinking," he stammered.

"No, Martin, that's not what-"

"I'm such an idiot," Martin said, and reached for the doorknob. "Thank you for driving me home." And with that, he closed the door right in front of Douglas.


	4. The Promise

**A/N: It took a while, but here's the last chapter of this story!**

 **Thanks for your comment, wtchcool - and also thanks for pointing out the mistake in the last chapter, I've fixed it now. Since English isn't my first language, I guess there are many more grammatical errors in my writing, so if any of you notice anything else just let me know ;)**

 **Thanks for reading, it means the world!**

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As chance would have it, Douglas arrived at the airfield the next morning at exactly the same time as Martin. But instead of getting out of his van, Martin kept sitting in it, making himself busy with cleaning out his glove compartment. It was clear to Douglas that the younger man wanted to avoid him, but he needed to talk to Martin, to set things right.

So Douglas kept standing there in front of Martin's old van, until the captain gave up and reluctantly got out of the car.

"Good morning, Douglas," Martin said, a forced smile on his face. He avoided looking at Douglas as he started walking towards MJN Air's little office. He felt terrible; he hadn't drunk that much in years. And then of course, there was that stupid, stupid kiss, that he had tried to forget by drinking even more alcohol.

"Martin, please, can we talk about what happened yesterday?"

"No, why? You'll only make fun of me," said Martin and walked even faster than before, but Douglas managed to get hold of his arm and caused him to stop.

"Martin, it's all fine. I didn't mind. I - quite liked it, in fact."

Martin looked completely startled. "Y-y-you - what?"

Douglas rolled his eyes, then he put both his hands on Martin's shoulders, pulled him closer, and kissed him.

"Do you get it now?" he asked after they had pulled apart, a little out of breath.

Martin still looked a bit confused, as if he couldn't quite believe what was going on between him and his first officer. "Do you mean-"

Whatever Martin had wanted to say, he was interrupted by Carolyn. "Uhhh, what did I just see there?"

"Damn," mumbled Douglas, before he turned around and greeted Carolyn with a faked smile.

Martin's face had turned red, and he started stammering. "Uh, hi, Carolyn, I - wh-what just happened, I- I mean -"

"It's none of my business," she said, much to Martin's surprise, who didn't notice the sneaky look in her eyes. But Douglas did, and suddenly remembered the bet with Carolyn. He hadn't thought about it since he had asked Martin out for Duxford Air Museum; there had been more important things on his mind. What mattered most now was to avoid Martin getting to know about the bet, because it would hurt him too much. Douglas simply couldn't let that happen.

Silently, the three of them walked into the porta cabin. "Where's Arthur, by the way?" asked Martin as he sat down in front of his desk.

"Just talking to some chap out in the car park," Carolyn answered, and then, "Oh, I think here they come."

And she was right, because the office door swung open and in walked Arthur, followed by a tall, dark haired man, that seemed vaguely familiar to Douglas.

"Good morning chaps," beamed Arthur, "may I introduce: Giorgio De Luca! He's an _actual_ Italian, can you believe that?"

"Yes Arthur," answered Douglas, "I rather think we can."

"I'm the new assistant airfield manager," said Giorgio.

"Yeah, it's brilliant!" Arthur added. "Now this is mum, um, I mean mum for me and Carolyn for you, that's Douglas over there, and then there's -"

"Wait," Giorgio interrupted, looking at Douglas, "don't I know you? Yes, you were picking up that really drunk pilot at the pub last night!"

Now Douglas remembered where he had seen the Italian before. He was one of the men who had been sitting at the table with Carl and Martin.

Carolyn jumped up from her chair. "What? Douglas, which drunk pilot did you pick up yesterday?" Before Douglas could say anything, she turned to face Martin. "Now how much exactly did you drink yesterday, Martin? Tell me!" she demanded to know.

Only now did the Italian see Martin in the room. "Oh, you're here. I didn't think you would have been able to get out of bed this morning, let alone fly a plane. Well, good for you."

"That's enough," Carolyn said furiously. "Martin, you are obviously not fit to fly. And I won't hear your stupid excuses," she added as soon as Martin opened his mouth. "Really, I would have thought you were a more responsible pilot than to consider flying with residual alcohol in your blood. Now get yourself a taxi and go home."

Without another attempt to change her mind, Martin grabbed his stuff and left the room.

"Bye skip," shouted Arthur after him, but Martin only waved his hand absentmindedly.

Giorgio left the office a moment after Martin, followed by Arthur, who wanted to introduce him to the other workers at the airfield, leaving Douglas and Carolyn alone in the room.

"My, my, Douglas, I never would have guessed you were the sort of person who would only make a move when his partner his drunk. But I saw the kiss, so congratulations, you've won! I'm going to wash your car."

"You've won what?"

Douglas and Carolyn both turned around to the door, where Martin was standing, his face blank.

"Martin, I thought you'd gone home," exclaimed Carolyn. Douglas only looked at Martin, fully ashamed of himself and unable to say anything.

"I-I forgot my jacket," said Martin, and now searched for Douglas's eyes, who looked down at his desk. "Douglas, what is all this about?"

Carolyn slowly walked towards the door. "I should probably let you two discuss this on your own," she said apologetically and left the room.

"Well?" Martin asked, but he couldn't longer hide the hurt look on his face. It broke Douglas's heart, but he realized that he owed Martin the truth.

"It was a bet, between Carolyn and me, to see if I could make you fall in love with me." He finally looked up into Martin's face. "I'm sorry, Martin, I am sorry. I realize what a mistake this was, I never should have -"

Douglas was interrupted by Martin's furious voice. "You mean this was all just a game for you?! _Oh, let's try to get this stupid little pilot to love me, how much fun that would be!_ But I'm not just somebody's pawn, least of all yours!"

"No, Martin!" Douglas exclaimed, but the pilot turned around and stormed towards the door. In an attempted to stop him from leaving, Douglas got up and stood in front of the door to block it.

"Now would you please listen to me?" Douglas asked, but Martin shook his head in anger.

"No, why would I? Everything you told me was a lie!"

"But it wasn't, can't you see that? None of the things I said to you had anything to do with that bet. Well, it was the reason I asked you out, but that's all, I swear!" Douglas had never felt so desperate before, not even during the divorce from Helena.

"Why on earth should I believe that?" Martin asked, and now Douglas did something the captain hadn't expected at all. He grabbed his shirt, pulled him closer, and kissed him. And oh, what a kiss it was.

When their lips finally parted, Martin was completely out of breath, his forehead still leaned against Douglas's.

"Do you believe me now?" asked Douglas, and Martin nodded. "I'm sorry I hurt you," continued Douglas, "I promise I will never do it again."

On the other side of the door stood Carolyn, a satisfied smile on her face. She had known her plan of getting the two pilots together would eventually work out.


End file.
